How I Lost My House: An Interview with Sean Platt

by Vered DeLeeuw · 7 comments

Sean Platt, a gifted writer who also provides clients with a wide range of content marketing services, had bought his house during the real estate peak. Recently, he lost his house.

I’ve read Sean’s post describing his ordeal with great interest, realizing that it gives readers a glimpse not just into a fascinating, personal story of the recent real estate bust, which has affected so many of us, but also into the kind of determination that enables a person to recover, emotionally and financially, from a financial crisis.

I really wanted to share Sean’s story with Money Ning readers and was excited and grateful when he had agreed to answer a few questions.

The American Dream?

Vered: In my own comment on your post, I told you that home ownership , despite being a classic American dream, is overrated. Do you agree, or do you still believe in home ownership? Do you plan to become a homeowner again in the future?

Sean: I agree that home ownership might be overrated, yes, but I definitely plan to own another home. I’ve always loved real estate. I find the cycles fascinating and would love to lean into the next curve. However, I’m also sure life will see me renting plenty of places I’ve no intention of buying.

The beauty of my work is that it can be done anywhere, and I imagine I’ll be traveling the world with my family a lot more than I’ll be fixed in a single location. Once my children reach middle school age, I’d like to offer them something better than the dungeons of tedium and monotony that dot the present landscape of education.

No matter where life leads, I think it would be nice to have one place with a coat rack and a box of family treasures. And yes, I imagine I’d like my name on the deed.

Real Estate Cycles

Vered:  In your unique, colorful way, you’re describing the real estate boom, saying that “a symphony of hammers and saws were singing in the air and you couldn’t walk a block without kicking a nail from all the new construction.” What have you learned from your ordeal about real estate cycles? Do you plan to wait next time until a real estate low, or do you still believe that if one plans to stay put for a few years, it makes sense to buy?

Sean: I love real estate cycles, and honestly, I didn’t learn anything from this one that I didn’t already know. I was 100% aware of the risk when I bought at the height of the market. We bought the house we did because we were able to trade in two condos that we owned outright, both of which had appreciated to a ridiculous amount more than we’d paid.

I saw the crash coming years before it did, but saw trading inflated paper for inflated paper as a step forward. We needed more space than what we had at the time and had plans to build a business in the new property. What I didn’t count on was the complete decay of the surrounding neighborhood, nor did I expect the city to prohibit the expansion of our business, both things which led to a losing deal on our end.

With real estate, sometimes you just have to know when the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Right now we are squirreling away and biding our time. I believe that when it comes to real estate, there’s a great deal to be found nearly every day. The right one will be ready for us when we are ready for it.

Lending Practices

Vered: When you got the loan for the house, was there any attempt by the lender to truly look at your finances and figure out if this was a smart move, or was the underlying assumption that real estate prices will always keep going up and everything will be fine?

Sean: No, I would say the lender was not terribly interested in investigating our finances any deeper than the absolute minimum needed to get the loan approved. But I wasn’t that interested in them looking. As with many loans at the time, there was a quiet understanding between buyer and lender. And loans built on assumptions are the first to crumble, which is why 20% of the market is facing foreclosure.

Even so, the loss of our house was in no way the lender’s fault. We didn’t over borrow. We made a conscious decision to close the business we were running from the property in pursuit of new dreams. This decision negated our ability to meet the baseline needs. The consequence is ours alone and was in no way the result of any hoodwinking or nefarious practices by shady banks.

What Have You Learned?

Vered: When your kids are older, I’m sure you will tell them about this experience. what is the main lesson you want them to learn?

Sean: We’ve explained things to our kids in snapshots. Mostly we’ve told them that it simply did not make sense to pay for so much unused space, and that we needed to make some changes. I’ve been especially direct with my daughter, the older of the two, by telling her that sometimes dreams are expensive, and that the last one was bought on credit. Daddy owes a lot of money that he borrowed to buy this dream.

But the other side of the loss is that the dreams are coming true and my children are seeing it happen in real time, day by day and victory by victory. I don’t think either of my children will look back at this time and remember it as the period when we lost our house. I believe they will remember it as when Daddy made his dreams come true and carried the family forward.

And really, I’m not sure there’s a better lesson to teach a child then the alchemy of hard work and dedication that renders dream to reality.

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{ read the comments below or add one }

  • kevin says:

    “I’ve been especially direct with my daughter, the older of the two, by telling her that sometimes dreams are expensive, and that the last one was bought on credit. Daddy owes a lot of money that he borrowed to buy this dream.”

    The older daughter is the one that has been betrayed by Dad and she’s pissed! Daddy is a self serving jerk who thinks of only his sense of comfort instead of his own young children. When Daddy screws up; he unloads all his obligations on the lender, and tells his children to “suck it up!”

    What an a**!

  • Mike says:

    Let’s call a spade a spade . . .

    If you saw the real estate bust coming, why didn’t you just rent?

    So the reason you couldn’t afford your house is because you:

    “made a conscious decision to close the business we were running from the property in pursuit of new dreams. This decision negated our ability to meet the baseline needs. ”

    oh, ok. I did the same thing you did pal and i’m still in my house. I just didn’t switch jobs AND move at the same time. and you have kids and are taking on this much risk? for shame.

  • Rick says:

    I must agree with DC. “Sean” is the proverbial “Christmas turkey” and I am amazed to see him presented as some sort of authority. Not only did he screw up, big time (“We bought the house we did because we were able to trade in two condos that we owned outright,….” So he bet all his equity on the roll of the dice. No thoughts of asset protection and no regrets.) and (“What I didn’t count on was the complete decay of the surrounding neighborhood, nor did I expect the city to prohibit the expansion of our business, both things which led to a losing deal on our end….” No, Sean, it was not those “things” that led to your loss, it was your failure to do some simple projections and to consult with local officials.
    Sean is like some dying reptile the day after the asteroid hit. A yuppie who still hasn’t managed to get his mind around the fact that he was set up. A criminal gang seized the banking system, manipulated the economy to make it totally dependent on credit, rode the horse until it began to stumble, and then took their chips and went home.

  • DC says:

    Three words: Verbose. Liar. Shady. Do you really believe the crap you are spouting? Guess there really is one born every minute.

  • Novomo says:

    Kris,
    You were joking, right?
    “It’s sad that our financial system and society has become so focused on money ”
    What do you think a financial system should be focused on, cookies and rainbows?

  • Kris says:

    What a great lesson for all of us. It’s sad that our financial system and society has become so focused on money that something like this could happen so often.

  • Bonnie Gray says:

    Great interview, Vered. You made a topic like money interesting and informative at the same time. Personality that’s informed. 🙂

    And thanks for sharing, Sean – in that signature witty and open style as always. I’m confident your dreams of traveling the world will lead to a home you’ll be hanging our coat in.

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